Calling all teachers struggling to make it through the last days before Winter Break-this is for YOU! This is the teacher hack you need before Winter Break to create calm despite the chaos. Read below to learn how I use this tool in my classroom!
Light up the Board!
In short “Light up the Board” is a simple engagement and motivation tool for your whole class. Your students will work collaboratively to earn festive “lights” that, when lit, will earn them a whole class reward. The class will love working together to light the board, requiring them to hone in their best behavior despite the many exciting things creating chaos.
How do you set it up?
First, clear off a spot on your whiteboard (or make a poster if you want to get really fancy!) Write “Light up the Board for a Class Reward!” paired with a drawing of string lights. Make the light strand however long you want (more details on that later) and decide how student will earn a “light” on your board.
Personally, I like tying this incentive to another behavior management practice called the “scoreboard.” In this Whole Brain Teaching Method, students earn “Smiley” and “Frowny” points as a whole class throughout the day.
Though this is something I use daily in my classroom, you could also use it for the first time during the “Light up the Board” challenge. Furthermore, you might choose to call it “Teacher vs. Student.” Some teachers do this, making the “Smiley” side the “Student” points and the “Frowny” side the “Teacher” points. More clarification on this method provided below.
The Scoreboard Method
When the whole class is killing it-say they complete a transition very calmly or are showing great whole body listening on the carpet -I give the class a smiley point. This is quick so it doesn’t interfere with our day. I’ll just say something such as “Wow! I love the whole body listening I am seeing!” and then I give them a smiley point. After this, the class celebrates together by saying “Oh yeah!” and we move on with the day.
Likewise, if there are quite a few students off task, talking while I am explaining directions, and so on, I might say “Man, I don’t like that I’m having to pause and wait for friends to stop talking so much.” I would then give a frowny point. The class responds with “Awh.” And again, we keep moving with our day!
At the end of the day, if the class has more smiley points than frowny points, they earn a letter towards the “mystery phrase” Once every letter in the phrase has been filled in, it spells a reward we get to enjoy as a class.
In this case, the class earns a “light” instead of a letter during the “Light up the Board” challenge! The Scoreboard keeps students engaged all day and creates a unified mission for the class to “win” the score daily.
I love using this method because it’s easy to determine how many lights are needed for the challenge. I look at how many days we have left before break (i.e. how many opportunities to earn a light) and subtract two. If your class becomes too far gone to win-you might consider making some days “Double Days” (two lights would be earned) to give them a fighting chance.
Other Methods that Work…
Another method for earning “lights” is to tie them to specific behaviors you want to see in your classroom. For example, during each classroom transition, you could say “If we transition under one minute with level 0 voices, we will earn a light!” This will create instant buy in and will sky rocket the success rate of the class earning their lights.
For this reason, you might want to include more lights than shown in my photo. Think of how many “lights” you would like students to earn per day, and create your chain accordingly.
Similarly, some teachers choose to award a light for “Above and Beyond” behaviors. They do not give parameters, but just look for times the class shows an impressive display of kindness, self control, hard work, etc. My only caution to this method: make sure you ARE awarding the lights! It can be easy to miss opportunities and get behind without specific guidelines in place.
What’s the Reward!?
Undoubtedly, the reward itself is less important than the feeling of success your class will have for winning the challenge. However, you don’t want to disappoint with something too small (such as a round of applause….) but you also don’t need to go too big (such as spending tons of money on a prize.)
My recommendation is to let the reward be easy on yourself. Thus, you might use something you were already planning on giving to students anyhow. For example, if you love doing a special craft, treat, or winter project with your class-make that the reward!
Other easy reward ideas include giving students free things that would be fun or valuable to them. Typically things that would not occur in the normal school day. Below are some ideas you could use:
- 15 minutes with indoor recess games
- Computer Time
- Festive Dance Party
- Heads up 7 Up Game
- Class Kahoot or Blooket
- Play “Pie in the Face” as a class
- No shoes in class for the day
- Hat day
- PJ day
- Guest Reader
- School Wide Scavenger Hunt
- Extra Recess
- Educational Videos or Movie Clip/Shorts
- Bring a stuffed animal to school
- STEM Challenge
Tackle those last few days!
Now you have a tool to make the days before break just a little more manageable and engaging for all! Interested in more ideas to make the days before Winter Break fly by? Check out some resources from my store below!
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Love this cute idea to promote good choices during a chaotic month!!